It is because of Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews’ left hand injury that Scott Hartnell will go to the NHL All-Star Game this weekend. It is because of the work that Hartnell has done on the ice that his appointment represents the NHL righting a wrong, rather than scrambling to find someone for the roster.

Hartnell leads the NHL with 13 power-play goals this season, while his overall total of 25 puts him in a tie for sixth in the league with Marian Gaborik of the New York Rangers. There is more to Hartnell’s game than just putting the puck in the net, though, as his 71 penalty minutes are the most of any of the league’s top 40 scorers.

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“My game is to be physical, to get in the goalie’s face and make it hard on defensemen,” Hartnell told Sporting News. “After whistles, you try to get that little shot that the refs can’t see, and maybe (the opponent will) retaliate. Almost every team has one.”

While almost every team has an agitator, not every team has a player like Hartnell, who is smart enough to pick his spots as a top-line winger. Of the 25 penalties Hartnell has taken this season, six have been coincidental with opponent fouls that meant Philadelphia did not have to kill Hartnell’s penalty.

“When you’re physical, you’re going to get penalties,” Hartnell said. “You have to walk that line. After the whistle, there’s chirping and stuff like that, and you’re gonna get minors, you’re going to get 4-on-4 hockey. … You don’t want to do it toward the end of a game when you’ve got a one-goal lead, and there’s more ice out there for the other team to score.

"You give space to (Claude) Giroux and (Jaromir) Jagr, guys like that, to make plays, and it’s a scary combination with a lot of ice for skill players like that. If it happens, it happens, and it’s worked to our favor so far this year.”

Still, Hartnell is on pace for 124 minutes in the box, which would be his lowest full-season total since 2005-06 and a good thing for the Flyers; his plus-18 rating attests to that, as well as the 14-3-3 record that Philadelphia has in games when he scores a goal. Hartnell is averaging 17:41 of ice time per game—the only other time he averaged over 17 minutes was 2008-09, when he scored a career-high 30 goals, a mark that he now needs only five to match.

In recognition of that, Hartnell has all but stopped voluntarily putting himself in the penalty box for five-minute stretches. Including playoffs, he has been in 54 career NHL fights. This season, Hartnell has had just one, trading punches with Boston Bruins defenseman Johnny Boychuk in a game last month that had already gotten out of hand on the scoreboard.

Instead, Hartnell has directed his physicality to the areas around the opposition's crease, where it will do his team the most good.

“There were a lot more players like him before in the league, who went hard to the net and would get all the rebounds that were thrown around the net,” Jagr said. “Probably the best I played with was Rick Tocchet—he was around the net and worked hard. … Sometimes you don’t have to fight, as long as the other players know you can fight. It’s the same thing.”

Tocchet scored 440 goals and racked up 2972 penalty minutes in his career, including a 48-goal campaign as Jagr’s teammate with the 1992-93 Pittsburgh Penguins. That figure will be a stretch for Hartnell to reach, but he can become the first Flyer to lead the league in power-play goals since another player with a mix of physicality and finishing power, Tim Kerr, scored 26 of his 58 goals with the man advantage in 1986-87.

“He’s had a tremendous year for us,” Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said. “I think he’s a very important piece, not only on the ice, but in the locker room as well. He’s a glue guy, he brings people together, brings teams together. He’s got a great personality, and his play on the ice this year has been terrific.”

The Flyers have valued Hartnell’s presence since he arrived in Philadelphia with Kimmo Timonen in a 2007 draft-day trade, and now that he is filling the stat sheet, the rest of the league sees just what he brings to the table. It has not been a transformation into a prolific goal scorer, but an addition of offensive spark from a player who remains the same fierce competitor.

“He’s a hard player,” New York Rangers forward Brandon Dubinsky said. “He’s obviously having a great year offensively. … It’s not just the 25 goals he has already this year. He’s always been pretty good offensively, and he’s always been a pain in the ass to play against. I don’t think this year’s any different.”